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Friday, July 20, 2012

Loons

Since we vacationed in New Hampshire this week, we ended our visit with a loon cruise on Squam Lake. Sightings are not guaranteed, but we had good luck! Squam Lake is also famous for being the location for the movie, On Golden Pond.

Cruises were scheduled at 11AM, 1PM and 3PM. We called for tickets in the morning, and the 3PM cruise was filled, so we signed up for the 1PM. Our captain told us that in the morning, the loons are likely to be busy fishing and since they are a diving duck, spend much of their time underwater. Therefore, morning would not be the best time to go out. By 1PM, he thought they'd be done fishing and we'd have a good chance of seeing them.

I spotted the first one, but it was a good distance away and didn't make for a very good photo. Another one popped up right next to it. George spotted the third one. The captain spotted the fourth one, which was the one that we were the closest to and was not bothered by us and hung around for photos! (I should mention that they would not drive up to any loons as that might disturb them. It was ok to be close to it only if it was the normal path the cruise (Pontoon boat) took anyway.

He wagged his feet several times. They aren't really sure why the loons do this, but theorize that it is a way to keep cool.

This last loon was in a cove off of the main lake and the water colors as well as the lighting on the loon were both fantastic! A great outing I would recommend to any nature lover! Beautiful scenery around the lake too.